Russia says no talks with the US about Assad exile

Russia on Wednesday denied holding talks with the United States about offering Syrian President Bashar al-Assad exile as a way out of 16 months of bloodshed that has claimed more than 16,500 lives.

"The situation with the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not being discussed with the United States," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency.

Moscow's Kommersant daily had earlier quoted a Russian diplomatic source as saying that Western nations led by the United States were making "active attempts" to persuade Moscow to offer a home to Assad.

But the report added that Moscow objected to the idea and Ryabkov stressed that Russia rejected a foreign solution to the brutal fighting now tearing apart it closest remaining Middle East ally.

"We have outlined our position many times: who holds power in Syria is an issue that must be settled by the Syrian people," said Ryabkov.

"Schemes offered -- or worse yet, imposed -- from the outside can only hurt."

Ryabkov's brief and carefully-worded remarks made no reference to the talks Moscow says it has been having with the regime itself.

Russia has argued that it was not supporting Assad but the supremacy of international law that forbade specific foreign powers to dictate solutions to countries' internal problems.